Chapter One: On the Outskirts

The Cerebrate.

A shockingly vague name. Technically speaking, it could apply to just about any cerebrate. After all, there are a whole bunch. We still don't know how many. Yet these days, when you mention the Cerebrate it has meaning.

We mean the Cerebrate, who was born sometime after the battle of Tarsonis. The Cerebrate was just a little bit different from all the rest. Who never entirely fell into the nice clean time tables which higher-ups in command like to use.

There is a good reason for this.

-Liberty's reports, volume II

The terrans had put up a furious resistance, but it had been futile. The Swarm had ravaged five out of the thirteen terran worlds. Yet when gains had been made, the protoss would destroy the world before it could be put to much use. Little by little, the swarms had gained ground, however. And yet their assault on Tarsonis, that should have heralded a glorious end, was repulsed.

Now the tide of the war in the terran sector had turned. The protoss and terrans were destroying the weakened hive clusters of the zerg. Yet from hardship came evolution, and from this realization came thought.

It was alive, it realized, though not as other things. It was not the beating of a creature's heart. It was not the blood flowing through the veins of those things which were a part of it. It was not the pulsing volcano of flesh crawling with larva. Nor was it the memories of carnage and blood. He felt the screaming last thoughts which coursed through what some called a soul.

It simply was. All of this was a part of it, but it was not it. What was he?

Then he beheld the face of what terrans called god. It was majestic and powerful beyond description. It could not be contained within mere flesh and blood. This was that which had formed him, that which had formed all the swarm. He loved and feared him as a child loves and fears a father.

"Awaken my child and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind, the eternal will of the Swarm and that you have been created to serve me. Behold that I shall set you among the greatest of my cerebrates that you might benefit from their wisdom and experience.

"Yet your purpose is unique. While they carry forth my will to the innumerable broods, you have but a single charge entrusted to your care. For I have found a creature that may yet become the greatest of my agents. Even now, it resides within a protective chrysalis, awaiting its rebirth into the Swarm.

"You must watch over the chrysalis and ensure that no harm comes to the creature within it. Go now, and keep safe my prize."

It was a cerebrate of the Overmind. And it had its instructions. It became more aware of where it was. It's hive clusters were located on a little island of the Overmind's domain. Beyond that island could sense nothing. There was a lake to the north of his hive cluster; the north was a direction the terrans used.

Why did it think like a terran?

The world was all very new to it. Everything was very new to him.

Then it felt another presence, far greater than it. It was not as mighty as the Overmind, of course, nothing was, but it held authority and power beyond it.

'The hatchery is the heart of any zerg colony.' The greater being said. 'It spontaneously generates larva, which in turn are used to spawn your various warriors and minions.'

The volcano thing… it was a hatchery. The creatures standing dormant around it, they were drones. Yet, what was the purpose of drones? Did they fight?

That seemed logical. The drones were much larger than the other creatures which were standing by. These things… zerglings was what the terrans called them; they were not workers, were they? No, they were warriors even if they were much smaller than drones.

'Now, create a drone and start gathering resources.'

How did it do that? The Cerebrate reached out to grasp at the larva with his mind. Yet as it did so, the greater being guided it little by little through what it had to do. Giving instructions, he saw the larva begin to mutate into eggs. It was very quick, indeed, and soon a whole number of eggs had been created. Yet the hive itself began to wane, lacking resources. Once again, the Cerebrate was guided gradually to send its drones toward what had once been a terran mine.

There the creatures began to harvest. They used their great pincers to carve the minerals. From there, they haul them back for processing in the hatchery. The minerals then became nutrients that the hatchery spat out. These, in turn, were fed to the larva, who were transformed into still more drones.

So it was that the Cerebrate spent a few days working to create new drones to gather more minerals. Then using those minerals to create new drones. It was interesting at first but soon became dull. The Cerebrate then turned its attention to the chrysalis.

As the Cerebrate went closer to the chrysalis, it sensed fear and hesitation. Visions swam through the Cerebrates mind. It thought he was actually experiencing it. It was separated from the others, and they were closing in. It could feel death and grief and horror. Then suddenly, anger, rage, rage directed towards a group…

The Sons of Korhal.

The visions retreated. The Cerebrate wondered at what it had seen. Vaguely it recalled a group known as the Sons of Korhal. They had done terrible damage to the Swarm, hadn't they? They and the protoss had routed them at Tarsonis.

Over time the strain of controlling drones became greater. The Cerebrate found it could not keep going. It wanted to follow its instructions, but it couldn't. It hurt to try. Once again, it felt the greater presence appear to guide him. 'Overlords provide control for your minions. As your forces grow in number, you must hatch more overlords to control them. You have enough minerals, command a larva and mutate it into an overlord.'

The greater being directed the Cerebrate, and soon new eggs were well on their way to hatching. Sometime later, several new overlords emerged from the eggs. They began floating over his hive clusters. The strain departed. The Cerebrate realized it could now control all the creatures. That meant that it had grown greater, larger in authority. It wanted to grow greater still. To create more, greater things. It realized that there were other creatures in the service of the Overmind. Ones' he had never seen or felt.

Images from the chrysalis filled his thoughts. Of vast tides of warriors laying waste to the towns and cities of terrans. Of worlds falling beneath the onslaught of the endless streams of broods. They are overwhelmed by the ceaseless fury of the Swarm. No, that was not right. From the first, the Swarm had been resisted by terrans in white armor, terrans in red armor, terrans in blue armor. They formed powerful battle lines and broke the Swarm's offensives. They destroyed hive clusters. Because of them, the Swarm's advance was checked.

And the hated protoss were their allies. He did not need to feel the chrysalis to know the grand vendetta between protoss and zerg. Great hive clusters were built, only to be demolished from on high. Huge armies were mustered, only to be torn to pieces by the psionics of the protoss.

The Cerebrate desired to meet them. To strike down and annihilate these terrans. To wash over all resistance and prove himself worthy of bearing a name. Yes, that was what he wished to do more than anything!

And yet he was chained to the chrysalis. He had been created for the sole purpose of being supplanted by whatever it was within the chrysalis. Sudden jealousy and anger awoke in him. Yet he beat it down. His purpose was to guard and protect the chrysalis, and he would fulfill it. The greater being appeared again. "To create new warrior strains, you must generate the various hive structures. The drones themselves mutate into these structures. Yet be careful, never use your last drone to make a building.

"Now order your drone to become a spawning pool. You'll notice that structures can only implant themselves upon the creep.''

The creep?

The Cerebrate looked through the eyes of its minions. It perceived physical reality for the first time. Everything the violet goo known as creep touched was the Overmind's domain. Yet beyond were rocky hills and grassy plains. In those places, there was no perfection, as there was with the Swarm. Things simply existed without meaning or purpose. One day the Cerebrate wanted to spread the Swarm to all the stars. Every world would be infested; every creature assimilated.

'You can make creep colonies to extend the creep,' said the greater being. 'But only the hatchery can be built upon open ground.'

Then very suddenly, the Cerebrate was alone. The greater being had departed, content to let him succeed or flounder as he would. He would have no further guidance. And for a time, it succeeded. Over the next few weeks, the Cerebrate mutated drones into various hive structures. A spawning pool was created, and a den for hydralisks. Creep colonies were created and transformed into what the terrans called sunken colonies.

The Cerebrate realized that it used terran words? Did the Swarm adopt such turns of phrase after entering the sector? Or was it somehow different from the others? Perhaps it was merely interpreting the words spoken to it in the manner of terrans. The idea was somehow disgusting to it. It felt sullied, somehow.

He focused on building his army. No zerglings, of course, for they were almost always mowed down before they reached the enemy lines. No, its army would be one of higher strains, like hydralisks. It would create a mighty brood of creatures to lay waste to all that opposed the Swarm.

Now, if only he had an enemy to unleash his army on.

Then there came another presence. It was of a higher kind than it, but not so great as the one who had proceeded it. Yet it was also… nice in the way it felt towards it. Friendly. 'Greetings, I am Zasz. I, too, am a Cerebrate of the Overmind. I have located a small band of terrans that could threaten the chrysalis and the hive cluster. You must not allow them to leave here alive.'

A task! A chance to prove itself as more than a caretaker! At that moment, he saw that Zasz was an ancient servant of the Overmind. His brood, the Garm Brood, was the largest of all the swarms, and it had lain waste to five terran worlds in the past. Yet in the battles with the terrans, the Garm Brood had been reduced in size, alongside many other broods. But it was learning from those injuries and growing stronger for it.

Even so, anger came to the Cerebrate. Anger with the terrans who dared oppose the Swarm.

Thus it summoned to him all his hydralisks. It had bred their armor and spines to be as strong and deadly as it could manage. It paled in comparison to the greater cerebrates, but it would suffice. Zasz would not have given it this task were it not capable of achieving it.

It had several hundred of the creatures, and he prepared to send them out.

Then the terrans attacked. Clad in brown armor, a great force of firebats and marines struck from the north. They assailed his sunken colonies. It rallied its hydralisks and sent them into battle.

It could sense the terrans confusion as the battle was joined. They were used to facing massive numbers of zerglings supported by hydralisks. To face so many of the more powerful strains made them afraid and panicky. Their armor was weaker, their guns less effective. After a few moments of trading fire, the terrans broke ranks and fled. Yet none would escape that way, for the Cerebrate had bred its hydralisks to be fast.

They overtook the terrans, slaughtered them, and tore their corpses to bloody shreds.

Victory! A first victory!

Whatever doubts it might have once had regarding zerglings faded from its mind. It gathered the zerglings and sent them east, followed by its hydralisks. The zerglings found a terran fortified outpost and assailed it quickly. The thousand or so of the creatures tore through the terran goliaths and their marine guards. Many zerglings were killed, yet those that remained cut down all the terrans in the area.

With the outpost butchered, the Cerebrate sent the remaining zerglings north. He bound them to the place Zasz had directed him, having his hydralisks follow in their wake.

All of a sudden, the Cerebrate felt pain! To its horror, it realized that a force of wraiths had come over the water to attack its hive cluster! The hive cluster was under attack! It could not fail the Overmind; it would not fail! In a panic, the Cerebrate withdrew his hydralisks while the zerglings died in droves. Before too much damage could be done, his hydralisks returned. They shot down several of the wraiths.

Yet the other disappeared and began blasting his hydralisks from on high. Yet the Cerebrate could not perceive them, and neither could his broods.

'Cerebrate,' said Zasz, 'your overlords can detect such cloaked enemies.'

Of course! The Cerebrate sent his overlords to aid the hydralisks, yet they were moving too slowly. With every passing moment, more of his hydralisks were dying. Marines came from the east to attack the defenses, supported by goliaths. He was being attacked from both sides.

The ground assault broken at immense cost, but he was unable to pursue the fleeing terrans. Then the overlords arrived. The hydralisks turned and shot down many of the remaining wraiths. A few escaped fleeing over the water.

The hive cluster was intact, but many of his hydralisks were dead.

'Cerebrate, your hive clusters would be defenseless. You might have been overrun.' said the greater being. 'Do not make the same mistake again.'

The Cerebrate cringed for a few days as he created new hydralisks to replace those he had lost. He had disappointed a servant of the Overmind. Fortunately, the terrans had suffered grievously as well. His overlords reported to him that they were calling in reinforcements.

It was too late. Within a few days, the Cerebrate had mustered a new army. He sent it forth towards the terran base camp, leaving a few behind as a garrison. The terrans threw everything they had against them. The two armies faced each other. Gauss rifles and machineguns were firing on one side. Acid spines came from the other. Both sides suffered terrible casualties, but the zerg were fearless. Soon the terrans broke as their goliaths exploded around them.

The hydralisks pursued them to their base camp. They began killing everything they found. Terran civilians fled in horror as the military personnel made a stand as best they could. For a few minutes, the terran defenders held the hydralisks at bay. Other terrans began to flee behind them. These were what terrans called civilians. Then the line broke, and what remained were slaughtered.

The Cerebrate would have pursued the civilians and massacred them. In tribute to the Overmind, of course. Yet he was concerned about the source of the wraiths. Scaling up the cliffs, he found where they were being stored. He shot down those who had gotten into the air and then set about obliterated those still on the ground.

When all the terrans in the region were dead, the Cerebrate drew back his forces to the hive cluster. Then he set about creating new ones that the Swarm might no longer be weakened.

Victory belonged to the Swarm.

Authors Note:

Okay, here we have the first chapter for the zerg campaign. In my original plans, I wanted the Cerebrate to be a reckless blood knight.

See, I decided to make things focus on the personal and emotional side of the story. That is what people care about. But I'm doing things from the perspective of the Cerebrate. Someone who does see the world like an RTS game. So, I'm kind of stuck.